Nation: In the Secret Service We Trust

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Anthony Philip Henry of Dayton, Ohio, has a deep-seated belief that the words In God We Trust on U.S. currency are blasphemous. Last week he tried to take his case right to the top: the White House. Wearing a white karate suit and carrying his well-thumbed Bible, he scrambled over the fence from Pennsylvania Avenue and managed to scamper 15 yards onto the White House lawn before being met by at least eight Secret Service agents and uniformed guards. Thereupon the slightly built, 35-year-old gate crasher whipped out a three-inch knife from his Bible and slashed one officer's face and another's arm. Wielding long billy clubs like cattle prods, the guards warily circled Henry, poked the knife out of his hand and forced him to the ground. They then took him off to jail; later a magistrate sent him to St. Elizabeths Hospital for psychiatric evaluation. He never did get to voice his complaint to the President.